Steam or vapour bath

ABSTRACT

A STEAM OR VAPOUR BATH COMPRISES A CABINET WITHIN WHICH A PERSON MAY BE SEATED, THE CABINET INCLUDING A BASE PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO A WALL, SAID BASE AND SAID WALL BEING ADAPTED TO BE MOVED RELATIVE TO EACH OTHER BETWEEN, AND TO BE RETAINED IN, AN OPERATIVE POSITION IN WHICH THE WALL IS SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE BASE, AND AN INOPERATIVE POSITION IN WHICH SAID WALL IS DISPOSED ADJACENT AND SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE BASE. A SEAT IS PROVIDED WHICH IS MOUNTED WITHIN THE CABINET AND IS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED THERETO IN SUCH A WAY AS TO BE MOVED BETWEEN OPERATIVE AND INOPERATIVE POSITIONS WHEN THE BASE AND WALL ARE SIMILARLY SO MOVED, THE SEAT HAVING A PORTION WHICH, IN THE OPERATIVE POSITION, EXTENDS SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO SAID WALL.

Dec. 7, 1971 w s SHARPS 3,624,844

STEAM OR VAPOUR BATH Filed D90- 2, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Ailorm'yg D- 1971 w. s. SHARPS 3,

STEAM OR VAPOUR BATH Filed Dec. 2, 1969 3 Sheets-$heet z lnvenlor Dec. 7, 1971 w 5 SHARPS 3,624,844

STEAM OR VAPOUR BATH Filed Dec. 2, 1969 s Sheets-Shet s United States Patent 3,624,844 STEAM 0R VAPOUR BATH Wallace Samuel Sharps, Penn, near High Wycombe,

Buckinghamshire, England, assignor to Medexport Limited, London, England Filed Dec. 2, 1969, Ser. No. 881,552 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Dec. 3, 1968, 57,378/ 68 Int. Cl. A61n 33/06 US. Cl. 4-160 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A steam or vapour bath comprises a cabinet within which a person may be seated, the cabinet including a base pivotally connected to a wall, said base and said 'wall being adapted to be moved relative to each other between, and to be retained in, an operative position in which the wall is substantially perpendicular to the base, and an inoperative position in which said wall is disposed adjacent and substantially parallel to the base. A seat is provided which is mounted within the cabinet and is pivotally connected thereto in such a way as to be moved between operative and inoperative positions when the base and wall are similarly so moved, the seat having a portion which, in the operative position, extends substantially perpendicular to said wall.

The invention relates to steam or vapour baths and it is to be understood that the term vapour baths in- .cludes those of the sauna type using hot air.

According to the present invention there is provided a bath comprising a cabinet within which a person may be seated, the cabinet including a base; a wall pivotally connected to the base, said base and said wall being adapted to be moved relative to each other between, and to be retained, in an operative position in which the wall is substantially perpendicular to the base, and an inoperative position in which said wall is disposed adjacent and substantially parallel to the base; a seat which is mounted within the cabinet; a first portion of the seat which, in the operative position, extends substantially perpendicular to said wall; a first hinge connection pivotally connecting said first portion of the seat to said wall; a second portion of the seal: which, in the operative position, extends perpendicular to said base; a second hinge connection pivotally connecting said second portion of the seat to said base; a third hinge connection pivotally connecting the first and second portions of the seat, whereby the seat is moved between operative and inoperative positions when the base and wall are similarly moved; a space beneath the first portion of the seat for reception of a steam or vapour or hot air generator; a plate constituting said second portion of the seat which plate is adapted to prevent direct contact between the steam or vapour or hot air from the generator in said space and the legs of a person seated on the first portion of the seat.

A canopy of flexible material may be attached to said base and said wall to form the remainder of the cabinet.

Preferably said canopy is detachable from the base and wall.

Preferably said base and wall, in the inoperative position, form a case, fastening elements being provided on the base and wall to retain the same in the inoperative position.

At least one strut may be provided to retain said base and said wall in the operative position.

The invention is illustrated, merely by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

ice

-- erator for use with a steam or vapour bath according to the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a cross-section of the steam or vapour bath of FIG. 1 in its open, or operative, position, and

FIG. 4 is a cross-section of a steam or vapour bath of MG. 1 in its folded, or inoperative, position.

Referring first to FIG. 1 there is shown a stem or vapour bath generally designated by the reference numeral 10. The steam or vapour bath 10 has a base 11 made of, for example, fibre glass and a wall 12 also made of fibre glass. The base 11 and the wall 12 are hinged together by means of a hinge 13.

The steam or vapour bath 10 has a seat 14 which comprised a first portion 15 attached by a hinge 16 to the wall 12 and a second portion 17 attached by a hinge 18 to the base 11. The first portion 15 and the second portion 17 are hinged together by a hinge 21 (see FIG. 3).

Both the base 11 and the wall 12 are tray-like members having small upstanding walls 22 and 23 respectively, and, in the open, or operative position of the steam or vapour bath 10, are positioned substantially perpendicular to each other by means of two rigid struts 24 (only one shown) which are removably attached by fastening elements 24a. As an alternative the struts 24 may have slots (not shown) in the ends thereof, these slots engaging with protuberant arms (not shown) located on the upstanding walls 22, 23 internally of the steam or vapour bath 10, to retain the base 11 and wall 12 substantially perpendicular to one another. In a further illustrated alternative the struts 24 may be permanently pivotally retained internally of the steam or vapour bath 10'. In this case they are hinged substantially at the centre so that when the steam or vapour bath is folded the struts 24 fold with the base 11 and the wall 12 and are, in the folded position, located within the base 11 and the wall 12.

Attached to the upstanding walls 22 and 23 by means of snap-fasteners 25 is a canpoy 26, made of, for example, nylon (trademark) sheet. The canpoy 26 is provided with a releasable fastener element 27, such as, for example, a Zipper wln'ch, when open, allows a person to enter the steam or vapour bath 10 and when closed prevents steam or or vapour substantially from escaping from the steam or vapour bath. When the releasable fastener element 27 is closed a space is left adjacent the top of the wall 12 to allow the head and neck of a person seated in the steam or vapour bath to project outwardly from the canopy 26. For comfort a curved portion 28 is removed from the upstanding wall 23 to accommodate the neck. The canopy 26 is also provided with two arm holes 29 (only one shown in FIG. 1) to allow the hands and the arms up to the elbow of a person seated in the steam or vapour bath to project oltwardly of the steam or vapour bath. The arm holes 29 have cufis (not shown) to prevent steam or vapour escaping.

The canopy 26 may have, at its corners, strengthening elements (not shown) which are integral with the canopy and are attached to the upstanding walls 22 and 23 so as to give a certain predetermined shape to the canopy. Furthermore, a panel (not shown) may be hingedly connected to the base 11 at a portion 22a of the upstanding wall 22. This panel may be locked in a position perpendicular to the base 11 to enable the lower part of the canopy to retain its shape. When the steam or vapour bath 10 is folded the panel is folded with it. As an addition or as an alternative a similar panel may be hingedly connected to the wall 12 at a portion 23a of the upstanding wall 23 to enable the upper part of the canpoy to retain its shape.

3 Both the base 11 and the wall 12 have interengaging catches 31 on the portions, 22a, 22b of the upstanding walls 22, 23 respectively for keeping the two parts parallel and adjacent to each other in the folded, or inoperative, position. In addition the base 11 has a carrying handle 32.

Referring to FIG. 2 there is shown a steam or vapour generator 33 adapted to be positioned in a space under the first portion of the seat 14 in the open position. To protect the legs of the user of the steam or vapour bath the second portion 17 of the seat 14 consists of a plate so that steam cannot come into direct contact with the users legs. Additionally the first portion 15 of the seat 14 has a heat resistant padding 15 on the under surface thereof to prevent the upper surface from becoming excessively hot in use. The padding 15' may be, for example, expanded polystyrene. Since a plane plate has little structural strength portion 17 is provided with a plurality eg 3, of strengthening ribs 34.

The steam or vapour generator 33 consists of a lid 35 having a cut out portion 36 and a finger hole 37. The lid 35 fits onto a base 38 and is retained thereon by rivets 41. Disposed within and projecting through one wall of the base 38 is an electrical heating element 42. The electrical heating element 42 is controlled by an adjustable resistance box 43 (FIG. 1) which has a clip (not shown) engaging one of the struts 24. From the resistance box 43 a cable 44 leads to a connector (not shown) which is connectable to the electrical heating element 42 and cable 45 leads to a source of supply of electricity (not shown).

Thus it will be appreciated that when the base 38 is filled with water or vapour forming material the heat from the electrical heating element 42 will cause the water or material to vaporise. As an alternative to the steam or vapour generator 33 shown in FIG. 2 a hot air generator which is not illustrated may be provided, the hot air generator comprising a heating element which is suspended within a base so as to heat the air above the latter and thus to provide hot air currents so that the steam or vapour bath 10 may be used as a sauna bath. The base in this alternative construction may, if so desired, be adapted, when filled with water, to produce steam.

In FIG. 3 there is shown a lip 46 which is provided on the upstanding wall 22, the lip 46 not being shown in FIG. 1. This lip is provided to receive the upstanding wall 23 when the steam or vapour bath is in the folded position as shown in FIG. 4. It will be seen from this latter figure that there is a space 47 between the base 11 and the wall 12 in which the steam or vapour generator 33 may be housed in the folded condition. In addition the struts 24 and canopy 26 and resistance box 43 may be housed therein.

A portion 23a of the upstanding wall 23 has a hole 46' therein which, in the open position of the steam or vapour bath 10, has a thermometer (not shown) disposed therein. The bulb of the thermometer projects into the steam or vapour bath to give an indication of the temperature thereof which indication is visible to a person sitting in the steam or vapour bath. When the steam or vapour bath is folded the thermometer is removed from the hole 46 and housed within the folded steam or vapour bath.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the present invention concerns a particularly useful folding steam or vapour bath which can be easily arranged either in the operative position shown in FIG. 1 in which the wall 12 of the seat 14 is perpendicular to the wall 12, and the inoperative position, shown in FIG. 4, in which the wall 12 is adjacent and substantially parallel to the base 11. a

I claim:

1. A bath comprising a cabinet within which a person may be seated, the cabinet including:

a base;

a wall pivotally connected to the base, said base and said wall being adapted to be moved relative to each other between, and to be retained in, an operative position in which the wall is substantially perpendicular to the base, and an inoperative position in which said wall is disposed adjacent and substantially parallel to the base;

a seatwhich is mounted within the cabinet;

a first portion of the seat which, in the operative position, extends substantially perpendicular to said wall;

a first hinge connected pivotally connecting said first portion of the seat to said wall;

a second portion of the seat which, in the operative position, extends substantially perpendicular to said base;

a second hinge connection pivotally connecting said second portion of the seat to said base;

a third hinge connection pivotally connecting the said first and second portions of the seat, whereby the seat is moved between operative and inoperative positions when the base and wall are similarly moved;

a space beneath the first portion of the seat for recep tion of a hot vapour air generator;

a plate constituting said second portion of the seat which plate is adapted to prevent direct contact between the steam or vapour or hot air from the generator in said space and the legs of a person seated on the first portion of the seat.

2. A bath as claimed in claim 1 in which a canopy 'of flexible material is attached to said base and said wall to form the remainder of the cabinet.

3. A steam or vapour bath as claimed in claim 2 in which said canopy is detachable from the base and wall.

4. A steam or vapour bath as claimed in claim 1 in which said base and wall, in the inoperative position, form a case, fastening elements being provided on the base and wall to retain the same in the inoperative position.

5. A steam or vapour bath as claimed in claim 1 in which at least one strut is provided to retain said base and said wall in the operative position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 148,487 3/ 1874 Miller et al 4-164 659,366 10/1900 Elliott et al. 4-'164 1,464,093 8/ 1923 Friedlander 4164- 2,070,030 2/1937 Stephenson 4--1'64 2,551,552 5/1951 Wahl 4-164 2,632,454 3/1953 Skogen 4160 X -4 2,725,577 12/ 1955 Howard 4164 2,753,433 7/1956 Rutkowski 4-161 X 21938 3,351,956 11/1967 Thoner 4-160 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,140 3/ 1 891 Great Britain 4-160 446,883 3/1949 Italy 4-160 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner D. B. MASSENBERG, Assistant Examiner 

